Mom Is Teaching

This is officially Read Across America Week and almost everyone I know is participating.  March 2 was the onset of the National Education Associations calling for every child to read in the company of a caring adult.  My son who didn’t attend school yesterday came home today with a paper for me to fill out regarding the books that he reads with me. 

So, we sat down, we done the already monstrous amount of obligatory homework, which includes the need for crayons, scissors and glue which I just sent to school this morning because apparently the $150 in supplies that I sent at the first of the year simply didn’t last long enough. 

The children are supposedly dressing up as the days pass this week and honestly, I understand the idea that school needs to be engaging in order to keep the children’s attention, but we have these strict dress code policies that prevent all kinds of normal clothing from being worn and shirt tales being tucked in, yet we encourage them to wear hysterical costumes and the teachers do much of the same.

Is this necessary?  I mean, you know, basically we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and if you happen to be familiar with the book, you know that the level of readership is far above a kindergarten level.  Yes, I know, they read it all the time in kindergarten but for the 5 year old to actually read the book, that’s amazing in my opinion.

I know I seem nothing short of a public school hater but the fact of the matter is this, the folks involved have made me this way.  I am/was a public school teacher, I wasn’t raised to buck the system, but when the system is repeatedly failing my children, I have very little choice now do I?

Ok, so I know I haven’t been very homeschool friendly necessarily lately but I did try with the Valentine’s crafts.  But, now, now I must make my admission of geography illiteracy.  I am not kidding you.  Once while on vacation with my best buddy from high school, we sat bikini clad on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale Florida.  We were imbibing a little and taking in much sun.  We had already been to the Bahamas and back and were headed to Disney in a few days.  So, as you can imagine, much money was being spent.

So, when a radio DJ approached us with the following task, “Name this ocean and I’ll give you $50 right now”.  I guess maybe since were somewhat thin, frail and dumb looking he figured it was a good choice and a way to keep his $50.  He was right.  Neither of us had a clue what ocean that was.  I was more than a little embarrassed.

My friend quickly retorted, “but she (meaning me) can say the counties in Alabama in alphabetical order”.  He was shocked I think.  I did it.  He laughed and kept his $50.  Just FYI, we were forced to learn them in our senior democracy class and well, that was something that stuck with me…unlike most geography which went totally over my head.

I told you all that to say this….go check out this interactive map of the United States…..it is awesome and obviously I have failed miserably at it for several hours now…oops!

I’m not going to pretend that I have any clue what-so-ever how a homeschooling parent would teach that previous lesson.  But, I suspect that the method I mentioned might work really great in that matter.  If I were thrown into homeschooling tomorrow, that’s what I would do.  I would go through the map with the child, discussing a little about each state that we might already know or that we can look up and learn.  That way, the child has a better idea of what a state represents other than just a spot on a map.

And, the parent could help the child go through the labeling process with the student reminding them of the small pieces of information that he/she had just learned about each state.  I see this as beneficial because let’s suppose your child lives in Gainesville Florida.  You are homeschooling and you are to this unit.  You 8- year-old has been begging to go snow skiing.  But when you try to explain to him/her that you can’t actually go snow skiing where you live and it is quite a long way to travel in order to do so. 

As you were labeling your map, you could show your child where grandma and grampa live in Nashville Tennessee and also remind them how long it took the last time you drove to see them.  Remind them of the various bathroom stops and the number of miles traveled, etc.  Then, you could jump to Colorado and show them that in order to snow ski they would need to visit a place such as Denver Colorado.  Look what your child has learned and learned the location of:  state of Florida and capital, state of Tennessee and capital and state of Colorado and capital.  The student is so much more likely to remember this because it relates to something the child is already interested in. 

In a classroom setting the teacher could do this as well, the problem being the number of students and the ability to know their students and their likes and dislikes.

In that example, I would be able to teach my child many states and capitals just be using the knowledge they already have and adding to it.  The knowledge is so much more likely to be retained. 

Fast forward 20 years and this young adult still hasn’t been snow skiing but he has won a free airline round trip to anywhere.  He/she knows exactly where he/she wants to go:  Denver Colorado.  And, because you had the opportunity to teach seasons and such, he/she can plan their trip accordingly since he/she learned at a very young age that driving from his/her home in Gainesville Florida to Denver Colorado would probably ruin his trip.

Lesson learned.  No homework.  Child can then be left with blank maps to work through and a labeled map to check his progress.  Learning so much more than simply regurgitating knowledge back onto a piece of paper. 

Discuss.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about abolition of homework all together.  This is most definitely the premises behind the book The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish that I’ve discussed in great detail.   I’m going to go out on a limb here and shoot out an opinion that’s somewhat different.

As long as the definition of homework means that a child is sent home with “work” to do that could be done in class and is not necessarily to reinforce learning, then it is considered non-sense to me and shouldn’t be used.  However, as a college grad, there is one skill that I feel is more than is vital…learning to study.

I spent my high school years with teachers sending homework home with us and declaring it a way to “learn to study” when in indeed, it was just busy work, it didn’t reinforce any skill because most of it I did while I was talking on the phone.  Learning to study is a skill that is different for almost everyone.  Everyone learns differently and everyone learns to retain knowledge differently.

I actually knew friends who would go home, on their own and write their vocabulary words over and over to reinforce them.  They would write sentences with their words because they knew we would have to do that on the test.  They learned from this.  Me, that’s the exact kind of work I did while chatting up someone on the phone thus…I learned nothing from it.

So, if a teacher is willing to spend instructional time teaching a student various methods of learning, then the actual homework that is given reads like this, “study for vocabulary test”.  And, as many of students I’ve talked to say, “I skip those assignments all together”, but the truth of the matter is, these students are also earning extremely high grades, so somewhere down the line, they are spending time studying.

I’m going to give you an example of what I would say is a teacher helping a child learn to study.  You can give me your thoughts on this method in the comments as I’m anxious to see what you have to say, even Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish. 

Ok, my example goes like this: 

Instructional Time has been spent discussing the states and capitals of the U.S. and where they are located.  There is a huge map on the wall and the students have access to see it during the day when they have free time.  An empty map is given to the children during class and they have 3 options for filling in the map:  one they can use their textbook and find the answers, they can use the map on the wall and find the answers or they can wait until the teacher goes over the map on the wall and fill in the answers.  The first two ways would make a great in-house assignment but not at home because if the student forgets his/her textbook, what good is the assignment if the child has no resources at home.

One study habit that the teacher puts out there for the students to help them learn is that she also has a blank map on the wall.  The students as a class group or in small group with a student leader (alternating the leader) points to the empty map and the other students try to identify the state and the capital.  Naturally, this can’t be done if the student hasn’t put some time into “studying” before hand. But it makes for great socialization skills and helps the students learn.  You know, the first one to get it right gets to pick the next state.

Sidenote:  One of my junior high teachers who basically never gave homework would work through using his instructional time and then he would do games to help us learn.  One of his games was he would pull down the blank map, split us into two teams and have us compete against one another.  It wasn’t a free for all because he would start with one team, the person in the front seat.  If that person missed it, the other person in the front seat had the opportunity to get the point.  If he/she go it, that team got a point, if not, he went to the second person in the row for an answer.  He would go back and forth so that everyone had to participate but it was somewhat competitive.  He even did this on occasion and instead of breaking us up into teams, he would give you an extra point if you knew the one that he pointed to when it was your turn.  It worked great and rarely even had to take his work home to study.  He had given us every learning opportunity during class plus every opportunity to retain the knowledge.

Another method of studying would be the teacher providing the student with copies of an empty map to take home along with their already “correctly identified map”.  That means that the teacher had to make the effort to check everyone’s map, not just assume that the child did it right because she told them to use the book or the map on the wall.  Many children simply can’t copy straight from a book or it takes them an eternity.  So, the teacher might find that on the final night, giving out a copy of the U.S. map that she has correctly labeled and then giving the students access to blank copies to study from.

Another tip that I think would be beneficial is for the teacher to also leave the map blank, number the states, give a child a copy of the number and state and capital that corresponds and then give the child a copy of the blank map numbered.  And, possibly give them a different one numbered differently.

Now, if a child takes that assignment home, he/she doesn’t need anyone to help them (or shouldn’t and realize I am assuming no learning disabilities here).  They can sit down and use the various methods with which to study.  My reason for loving this method is the child doesn’t have to lug a text book home which is something I always hated and I know many children still do.  Have you ever seen those kids coming out of the building with the back pack weighing them down?

This to me would be one proper way to teach the skills in class, the teacher spending instructional time going over the U.S. map and helping the children label it, giving them opportunities to learn with their peers or alone and finally giving them a study method to employ at home.

My reasoning behind this method is because students have to find their own niche’ for study habits before he/she gets to college and their life would be much easier if it was accomplished before high school. 

Study habits are in - homework is out.

Discuss.

Before anyone accuses me of being a dummy, I’ve put a lot of thought into this post, so just know I am not throwing this out here without any thought.

Ok, I do not think that I could adequately teach my child past the seventh or eighth grade.  And, again, not because I’m dumb, but simply because that’s a lot of material to be responsible for.  I’ve taught seventh and eighth grade Earth and Life Science before and I taught tenth grade biology as well.  I have a minor in chemistry, so I’m no dummy.

I keep reminding you guys that I’m not dumb, does that not just speak volumes about my self-confidence?

Anyway, even when I taught those sciences, I was only responsible for those classes, not the entire curriculum.  I know that curriculums are available in a lot of places.  I’m just curious if buying a curriculum and enrolling with the online schools or academy’s makes it any easier to teach all the academics? 

And, with that, I know that many of you have also traveled extensively and are believers (as I am) that traveling and learning is as important as sitting with a book in hand.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower is way better than reading about it for 12 years, right? 

Also, I do not consider this little trip to the beach educational for my child, just want to clarify that this is for fun, educational trips are what I’m asking about.  I am sure we could find many ways to make this an educational trip but the fact of the matter is, we all want to rest and relax and that is just what we are going to do.

So, the questions are this:

1.  At what age do you quit home schooling or do you go through high school graduation?

2.  What curriculum to you use?

3.  If you have used different curriculums over time, which ones do you like the best and why?

4.  What do you do if you are like me and don’t feel qualified to teach your child trigonometry or calculus (although I made A’s in both) or Anatomy and Physiology?

Discuss.

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It’s Spring! Which means crazy weather as the warmth and cold mix and mingle. Here in Oklahoma that means tornado season starts picking up. I thought I would put together a few links and ideas about tornadoes if anyone was interested in doing a unit study on them. Tornadoes really are amazing, hypnotic acts of nature. That is, when you’re not in the line of sight of one.

• Tornado guide from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service A great guide on what tornadoes are, what causes them, and some safety guidelines.
• The Tornado Project - A little bit of everything, worth check out for images and videos.
• National Geographic has Tornado lesson plans for kinds in K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 grades.
• Make A Tornado - A fun project for younger children (K-5) to make their own little tornado in a bottle.
• Tornado! - Lesson plans for older kids (grades 6-8) from Discovery.
• Tornadoes Lesson plan - Short lesson for Junior High and High School aged kids, teaches them to predict tornadoes and includes an online quiz at the end.
• The Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity - Explains how tornadoes are rated and what puts the “F” in an F4.

A few good tornado books to look for would be

• Under the Whirlwind: Everything You Need to Know About Tornadoes But Didn’t Know Who to Ask - Jerrine Verkaik
• Tornadoes - H. Michael Mogil
• Storm Chaser: In Pursuit of Untamed Skies - Warren Faidley
• Do Tornadoes Really Twist? - Melvin Berger, Gilda Berger
• Tornadoes - Jean Allen
• The Weather Book: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the USA’s Weather - Jack Williams

If you don’t live somewhere that tornadoes are a hazard, or just want to check them out from the safety of your couch, just search for tornado footage on YouTube. There are several videos online of real tornadoes in action, such as this video that will put your heart in your chest a couple times as they record a tornado ripping right next to them. You can also watch live footage of the recent tornado that ripped through Atlanta.

tornado, tornadoes, weather, lesson plans

This is probably more along the lines of something you would see discussed at Homeschooler Savvy, but it was so cool I could not resist sharing it myself.

One very artistic mom created a dollhouse for her daughter as an exact replica of Frida Kahlo’s Studio. The detail work is amazing! I have spent hours staring at her photos and trying to see all of the special touches that she did to create such an amazing dollhouse. It is a work of art in and of itself. And it’s a way for her to teach her daughter more about Frida’s life and art.

I made this miniature dollhouse for my daughter because I wanted her to learn about Frida Kahlo. This was such a fun project to make. It took me months to complete it but I am glad that I did it. Natalie loves it and once in a while we play with it on the kitchen table. She likes anything that is tiny just like her Mom. Next year I want to finish another dollhouse for her that I started last year but this one is bigger.

Suddenly I’m absolutely inspired, and wishing I had far more talent. Maybe I could glue some sticks together and call it Lincoln’s log cabin. Even if you can’t create beautiful dollhouses like Elsita does you can still use the idea as a great educational tool. You could try to create the homes of people in various time periods or create famous places. Depending on the ages of your children you could easily turn it into a family project, completing a little more each night and learning about the place and time you are building.

You can combine history, social studies and art all in one. Even a little math if you try to work everything to scale or just try to build the house yourself. eHow has an article on how to make dollhouses you can check out. For those a little more frugal or environmentally friendly FamilyFun has one for using household items in your dollhouse. You can create everything from a soap box toilet to a tea box fridge. Here is another simple one for using household trash recycled into dollhouse furniture. If you’re not sure where to begin you can download house plans for only $8 from Dollhouse Designs.

Have fun creating and learning!

doll house, dollhouse, crafts, creative, education, lesson plans, unit study

It is cold and snowing outside. Which means we’re curled up eating warm pancakes covered in melted peanut butter, sliced bananas, and drinking hot cocoa with marshmallows. The perfect winter breakfast!

I cannot believe that today is the last day of January. The year has just begun and it is already flying by too fast. Groundhog day is coming up next. Homeschooling in the Ozarks has a ton of activities and coloring pages and more for Groundhog’s day.

February also includes Charles Dickens’ Day on the 7th, Thomas Edison’s birthday on the 11th, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on the 12th, Susan B. Anthony’s birthday on the 15th, and George Washington’s birthday on the 22nd. Clearly, February is a great month to be born in.

February is also Black History Month in the US. History.com has a great section on Black History Month to explore. I found a ton of great lesson plans and printables to use.

Of course there is also the big V day, Valentine’s Day. You can find a great history behind the holiday here. Be sure to turn your speakers on as there is a video that starts playing that talks about the history and modern traditions.

Now I’m going to make another cup of hot cocoa and curl up with my knitting on the couch. I still can’t believe January is practically over. The rest of the year better slow down!

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Click here to leave a comment for a chance to win one of two homeschooling packages being given away.

homeschooling, February, February holidays, holidays, lesson plans, Charles Dickens, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, George Washington, Black History Month, Valentine’s Day

It’s November and the Winter Bazaar is still going! I know that I forgot to post something last week, but hopefully I can remember to keep up. I am having a lot of fun reading all the great ideas people are sharing.

This week I wanted to share a recipe for this coming Thanksgiving. My mother’s father is Native American, not that you could tell by looking at my pasty face. But if you ever saw my mother you would know in a heartbeat. So having some Native Amrican dishes is an important tradition in my house. One of my favorite dishes is 3 Sisters Stew. It is a warm, earthy stew made from corn, squash, and beans. The famous three sister’s themselves. Many people enjoy skipping the normal turkey dinner for thanksgiving and instead try an alternative meal idea. Serving a big pot of this stew is a great option, especially if you have any vegetarian guests coming over. You can serve it with fry bread for a traditional meal, or just make a loaf of homemade bread to dip into it.

Here is the recipe:

1 large butternut squash
2 cups corn kernels
2 cups cooked pinto beans
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 400*F. Cut the squash into half lengthwise and remove all seeds and fibers. Cover with foil and place halves, cut side up, into oven for 40 - 45 minutes. Remove from oven when soft enough to pierce with fork yet still firm and let cool. While cooling heat the oil in a large pot. Saute the onion and garlic until golden. Add the corn, beans, tomatoes, and vegetable stock to the pot and simmer. Scoop out the pulp of the squash and cube into bite sized pieces. Add cubes to the pot. Continue simmering, covered, for about 25-30 minutes. Stir in cilantro just before serving.

And while you are enjoying the stew here are some great links to browse through.

• The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans & Squash
• Native American Stories
• Indigenous Food and Native American Recipes
• American Indian versus Native American
• Trail of Tears
• Activities to Celebrate Native American Heritage
• American Indian History and Culture

Three Sisters Stew, recipes, food

13 Things You Didn’t Know Were Educational I think we’ve all been there. Doing something mundane and ordinary when suddenly it becomes a teaching moment for our kids. Who knew that every moment of your day is an opportunity for kids to learn? When you break free from the “learning only happens from 8-3″ mindset the number of moments that we see as educational blossoms. Here are a few of the fun ones we’ve had lately. 1. Watching the moss grow. I know, it’s moss. But the green stuff fasinates my boys. Pull some up from the sidewalk, pull out the magnifying glass, and fire up Google. 2. Pouring a bowl of cereal. “Where does creal come from? Who makes it? Why? Why? Why?” This is why mommy needs coffee in the morning. He’s ready to learn before I’m out of my jammies and fuzzy slippers. 3. Doing the laundry. “Mommy why is your silver shirt so soft? What’s silk? Let’s go find silk worms in the back yard! What do you mean they aren’t out there?” 4. Going to the post office. We’ve got math (paying for postage), history (Why does this building look so old?), and that socializing everyone keeps talking about (Honey, the nice woman needs to get back to work now. You can stop talking anytime now…) 5. Taking a picture. Especially when I go old school and pull out the polaroid. 6. Driving. Anywhere. Especially if you’re packed right. 7. Paying bills. There’s more of the socialization and a chance to be questioned fifty million times if the electric company will really turn off the power if I buy the boys toys instead of paying the bills. 8. Looking through old photo albums. I think explaining why mommy used to dress so funny is a lesson in history, culture, and society that no child should be without. 9. Finding a dead bird on the front porch. Next to a very content cat. That was difficult to explain without tears. My own included. 10. Checking my email. With a pre/early reader in the house I can’t get on for 5 minutes without “What does that spell? What does that say? That’s an E! And there’s a D! And…” 11. Going to the park. Sure it seems like just a bunch of fun, but there are also some great educational moments. Like if you spin mommy too fast on the merry-go-round she will need to lay very still in the grass for at least 15 minutes. 12. Having a baby. Ask anyone with more than 1 child how much their older kids learned by having a sibling. Just changing diapers alone is a learning experience for everyone. 13. Visiting the grandparents. What can’t you learn when sitting on Papa’s lap?

Thursday Thirteen, homeschooling, education, kids, fun

Today is Blog Action Day, the day when bloggers are encouraged to write about the environment on their blogs. The purpose is to get the word out all over the internet about environmental issues going on. Back in June I did several environmental posts during Low impact Week, but I thought I wanted to share some eco-friendly homeschooling ideas.

Helping kids learn about the environment and about environmental issues can be a difficult task. Luckily there are many sites that can help you find info. Thre is a great Footprint Calculator that shows how large an impact your family has on the environment. That would be a great starting place to let your children see where you are making the largest and smallest impacts in your daily lives. Another site that I love is Breathing Earth. It is an amzing simulation that shows carbon emission levels, as well as birth and death rates, around the globe in real time. it is fascinating to watch the pulse of life on the earth.

If your kids are getting interested in things they can do or change Tree hugger has a great reference of things that anyone can do to go green. There are tons of ideas there for everyday things such as baby care, cleaning, outdoor sports, and so much more. It’s definately a great spot to check out and get some ideas. You can also had over to We Can Live Green to see what products and services are environmentally friendly. Have your kids make a shopping list of just eco-friendly products. It would be a great challenge!

If you are looking for a good movie to watch you can scroll through the listings of environemtnal documentaries at IMDB you could look for at your local video rental or check out Green TV to see what videos are uploaded there.

Does anyone else have any great sites with eco-friendly ideas for kids? Leave a comment and share them here!

Blog Action Day, homeschooling, environment

OK folks, help me out here. I’m sure that I’ missing something, but what could it be?

Enki Education
Waldorf (And a part 2 here)
Unschooling
Montessori
Classical
Charlotte Mason
Unit Studies
Eclectic
Literature Based
Principled Approach
Homeschooling Online

So what do you think? What special method am I missing? Once I’ve covered all the specific methods I’ll go over the various curriculums out there.

homeschool, homeschooling, curriculum, Method Madness Monday

Well here we are at another Monday. This week I want to talk about a fun method that many homeschoolers dip into from time to time. The Unit Studies aproach. Sometimes called thematic units or integrated studies, the unit studies approach is teaching everything in one unti rather than spread out as several different subjects. There is a common theme running amoung every thing you do and all the areas are blended together. What is great about this is children get to experience how the world around them in interconnected rather than solitary.

Choosing to do with units is easily adapted to almost anyother style of teaching that parents choose to use. You can loosely mesh things together or neatly tie everything into one package. With a little creative adjusting on the parents part you can change any pre-packaged curriculum to fit a more “themed” aproach. If you ahve children of various age groups you can also create units that everyone can learn in their own ways.

So, how do you explain unit studies to someone who might not be familiar? My personal favorite analogy is the pizza. Take a topic, say the ocean, this is the crust. Now add some sauce all across it with some science on how the oceans came to be, some biology on what lives in the oceans, and maybe some math by plotting the low and high tides during a month. Next we sprinkle on the toppings by reading books and poems about the ocean, research sea battles, learn about various island nations, learn about the effects of commercial whaling, find out why the ocean is so salty, … The possibilities are endless and yet all still piled together on that same crust.

Some great links for you to explore are:
Unit Study Helps
The Joy and Ease of Learning Through Child-led Unit Studies
Learning Success with Unit Studies and More
Home Schooling With Frugal Unit Studies
Unit Study Ideas
A collection of great Unit Study links